Life after You
by Nothinghurts
Summary: Post S5. In rome.
1. Chapter 1

She chose him. She chose Chuck. It made him so angry that after all the good he has done for her, all the love he felt for her. He still wasn't the one that she loves. But more than angry, he is just tired. Tired of saving girls who didn't want to be saved, tired of being a back up plan. He is done with all this bullshit.

So here he is now, in Rome. Focusing on his writing career. Trying to forget his latest heartbreak caused by a certain brunette. He is not even that mad anymore, he just doesn't care at all. That's what he tells himself and soon enough he hopes it will become the truth. Days pass by with him sitting at the seminar with some small talk and before heading to bed a little drink, by little I mean two or three bottles of beer. And finally, the seminar is done. But he still doesn't want to go back to NYC, actually he's thinking of never coming back. He can start a new life with no dramas. So he contacted Jenny and made some arrangements and headed to London.

As soon as the plane landed, he feels that this can be his new home. Why not? He can live here with Jenny for a few weeks before getting a job and having his new loft or flat as they call it here. He can even visit Sherlock Holmes' home on his free time. This will be great. No dramas. No gossip girl. No Blair.

He saw Jenny waiting at the arrival area holding a sign. As if he wouldn't recognize his own sister even with all that goth and make up.

"Dan, I've missed you big brother" She says as she hugged him.

"Missed you too, anyway thanks for letting me stay with you."

"It is my pleasure, come on. Let's get a cab and go home. By the way, you should totally call Dad ''cause apparently, you deciding to live here, was an impromptu decision. He is so worried. I didn't want to be the one to tell him about this. "

"Yeah, well. I think Manhattan is just not the city for me. As soon as we get to your house, I'll call him." Dan said defensively.

" Not the city for you, huh? So I guess we really are siblings, both thrown out of the city by Blair Waldorf." Jenny just laughed awkwardly, realizing what she had said and just mouthed sorry when she saw Dan's face at the mention of her name.

"It's okay. I'm past the bitter, vengeful phase of the break up. Now, I'm all about myself. " He added a little woohoo at the end of his statement to make it more convincing.

Jenny just looked at him, she knew better but she'll just let it slide this time. She figured that he will talk when he's ready.

Dan finally got settled in with the room that Jenny gave him and he opens his laptop, its time to face his fears. He received a couple of emails from his agent, Serena and Nate. That's it. Nothing from Blair. "Wow. So I guess I really meant nothing to her." Dan thought to himself, he felt himself already falling apart but he had to be strong. "No, she cannot do this to you. Not anymore." He stood up, went to the nearest pub and drank all his pain away.

"This is the start of a new chapter in my life." He shouts as he poured alcohol down his throat to drown his loneliness and pain.

Sleep. Drink. Repeat until forgotten. That was his goal for the next few days.


	2. Chapter 2

Five Years After

Dan's back and he hates to admit it but it's good to be back. He missed it. But of course,he has a good life back at London. He's the Editor-in-Chief at a publishing house and he also owns a little bookstore. He feels contented. But his father needed him home for some important announcement. Jenny flew in just a few days before him. So he knew it was really something important with Jenny leaving her work to be in her most hated city.

Rufus picked him up at the airport and brought him straight to the Van Der Humphrey's penthouse for the traditional brunch and for the special announcement.

Everybody's already there, when they got there. Even ChuckandBlair. Yes he can say her name now without feeling an ache in his gut. But damn it, she is so perfect. She aged well. You could never guess that she's already a mother. Yes, he saw on the papers that they got married and that she was already pregnant when they got married. She really seems like she's happy. Good for her, I really genuinely wanted her to be happy.

Serena was the first to approached him and hugged him. "Daaaaaan, it's been too long since I saw youu. I'm still mad at you for leaving like that."

Dan laughed, Oh Serena. Still the same charming and golden girl Serena. " I'm really sorry about that but hey, at least I won't miss your wedding." he said before turning to Nate.

"Buddy, I missed you!" Nate said giving him a bear hug.

"Ditto, dude. By the way, congratulations on both the win in the mayoral election aaaandd with winning the girl." He really did miss his friends. And he thinks it is really good to be back.

Rufus interrupted their little reunion and told everyone to settle down.

He sitted beside Jenny which is in front of Blair and he didn't even look at her. He didn't want her to think that she still matters to him.

"So Dad, what's the big news that you needed to tell us?"

"Well, Dan, everyone." he took Lily's hand and squeezed it before he said, " We're leaving New York."

"What? Where are you going?" Dan asked. All of them confused at Rufus' announcement.

"Ibiza, Tokyo, the Philippines, we don't know wherever the wind takes us. We're gonna travel." Rufus said excitedly.

"What is this, Mom? Some kind of a midlife crisis? " Serena joked.

"Well, I've always wanted to travel and besides I'm done with being idle just waiting for you guys to come and go. So we decided we should travel. " Lily explained.

"But what about the penthouse? Who's gonna live here?" Eric asked.

" Actually, that was our main dilemma. We've thought about selling it but we just couldn't bear to do it. So Eric will be going home every few weeks to stay here since Serena is getting married in a few months." Lily said, and Eric approved of this idea. All of them are actually happy for them.

Serena and Nate decided to postpone their wedding when they found out that Rufus and Lily wants start their new adventure as soon as possible. Besides, why wait? They're sure about what they want. They decided to get married next weekend and just postpone their honeymoon.

The rest of the evening was great. He missed this. Oh how much he missed New York.

Chuck left early because of a business meeting and Blair stayed for a while talking to Serena about the wedding preparations. Nate also left becausw of a meeting. Eric and Jenny went out to catch up. After talking with Rufus and Lily for a while, he felt exhausted and a little jet lagged. He said goodbye to Rufus and Lily promised to call them after he got some rest.

He walked towards Blair and Serena to say goodbye, well, to Serena. He hugged her and he can see that Blair is busying herself with her phone. Serena asked him to stay but he declined. Then he left,

Later that evening, when he heard someone inside the loft. He quickly grabbed a baseball bat since he knew it wasn't Jenny because Jenny was still with Eric, and then he saw her. Blair. The girl she spent all this year forgetting is in front of him still as perfect and as beautiful as she can be.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to talked to you." she said, and he can't help but look at those lips. God, how he missed kissing those lips. He had to control himself. So he said acting annoyed "How did you get in here? Do you know what time is it?"

"I remembered where you put your spare key." She said looking at him.

At this point, he was really confused. I mean what is she doing here. At this hour. He didn't see any indication in brunch that she wanted to talk to him. Or maybe he was just too busy trying. To ignore her. Either way, why is she here?


	3. Chapter 3

Blair sensing his confusion, she started talking. "I don't even know what I'm doing here... I was on my way home but somehow, I got here." Dan looks at her, still confuse about what's happening.

Blair sighed "I'm sorry, Dan. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for not choosing you. I'm sorry for not fighting for us and not writing you. I'm sorry for how I left things with us. I'm just sorry for hurting you. I'm so sorry." she said feeling the tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't know what to say.. I mean what do you want me to say? That it's okay, that everything will be back to the way it was? I don't think I can say something I don't believe in. I'm sorry." He was shocked. He didn't expect to get this apology right now, or ever. He wanted to be okay so bad but he can't. He hated that even after all this years, she still has the power to hurt him.

"I completely understand, I just wanted you to know how bad I felt hurting you. How I hated myself for what I did." Blair clearly starting to break down, Dan started to move towards her to comfort her but he stopped himself. He needs to stand his ground.

After a few seconds, Blair turned to leave. But she stopped when Dan started saying something. " I did forgive you, I mean I forgive you, Blair. I just can't forget what you did. I"m sorry." That caused Blair to cry even more, she muttered something before leaving.

And then silence. Dan couldn't believe what just happened. He wasn't ready for this encounter. Guess all that years trying to forget her is wasted. The truth is he still care for her. He's just scared of being hurt again. By the same girl.

For now, its back to the old plan. Drink. Sleep. Repeat.

Dan had successfully carried out his plan for a few days. One day,

Dan woke up to the sound of knocking. He lazily gets up and opens the door. He was surprised when he saw Blair. He thought he wouldn't see Blair ever again.

"Blair, what are you doing here?" Dan asked.

"Well, I brought you a coffee and a bearclaw, Can I come in?" Blair asked, looking intently at him with those eyes. God, how could he resist.

"Yeah sure." He said while letting her in.

"Here you go." Blair said cheerfully, handing Dan the coffee and the bearclaw.

"Thanks.. So may I ask what exactly are you doing here?" Dan asked putting the coffee and bearclaw aside for a moment.

"I was thinking about what you said last night and I decided that I need to make up for what I did and I'll do whatever it takes to gain back your trust." Blair said.

"You, Blair Waldorf, will do whatever it takes to earn my trust? Are you feeling okay?" Dan said jokingly, but still he couldn't believe it, first Blair apologizing. Now she's practically begging him to trust her. It got him thinking, maybe he was important to her after all...

"Well, what can I say.. I can't lose you again." She said shyly.

Wow, now he must really be dreaming. He ignored this and said "Thanks for the gesture. And you don't have to do this you know.. Bring me stuffs. Just give me time, I think and we'll be fine. But I do appreciate a good coffee and a bearclaw." he said while taking a bite at the bearclaw, and drinking from his very hot coffee which caused him to burn his tongue. This made Blair laugh, and her laugh made him laugh too. He can't help it, her laugh is infectious.


End file.
